CLEVELAND, Ohio — If there is any confusion about whether musicians can perform for donations on Cleveland's streets, City Councilman Joe Cimperman aims to clear it up.

The downtown councilman has asked City Council's lawyers to draw up an ordinance explicitly legalizing the act of playing music for money on the streets, also known as busking. He hopes to have something to present by council's next meeting July 10.

"The police are saying they still think there's room for clarity," said Cimperman. "Let's just clarify it once and for all so we have the ability for more Maurices to do what they're doing."

Safety Director Martin Flask said in an email to city officials that one city ordinance that might apply to Reedus, 683.01, states in part: "No person shall play any radio, music player, television, audio system or musical instrument in such a manner or at such volume as to annoy or disturb the quiet, comfort or repose of neighboring inhabitants."

Reedus, however, was not cited for annoying or disturbing the quiet on April 15 and June 2. The first ticket, according to the Cleveland Municipal Court docket, was for "no vendor's license" and the second for "peddler's I.D. required."

"There is no permit or license required for individuals to perform on the streets," said Cimperman.

Deputy Police Chief Calvin Williams, according to City Hall spokeswoman
Maureen Harper, is looking into the matter and will speak with the city's law department about dismissing tickets where vendor's and peddler's license laws were inappropriately applied.

Said Cimperman: "Playing music extemporaneously in the city of Cleveland is legal. Let the Sax Man continue what he does, which is to make Clevelanders happy ... I think what he's doing is pure Cleveland.

"We need more street musicians. We need more guitars, more violins,
more ukuleles on the streets."

But not, it appears, on Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority buses or stations.

Another musician, singer-songwriter-guitarist Justine Walker of Brook Park, was cited by Cleveland police May 31 for "unnecessary noise" under yet another city ordinance, 605.01. The ordinance gives explicit examples of noise: Car horns, animals, construction, demolition, fireworks, even steam whistles. It doesn't say anything about playing a child-sized acoustic guitar, which she does on the RTA Red Line.

She said police met her at Tower City after the rapid operator complained. They couldn't figure out what ordinance applied at the time, she said, so police took her address down and mailed her a ticket.

"I usually get applause," said Walker, of Brook Park, who has performed on the streets and on trains in New York City and in Berlin. "I've had the best reaction in Cleveland from the people and the worst reaction from authorities."

"I celebrated by going to the West 25th Street rapid station, hopping on a train and singing for a couple of hours," she said.

She could be courting trouble. RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese said performing on trains and randomly in stations is a no-no.

"If we ask our customers to use their radios and iPods with headphones to not disturb other passengers, how can we condone a customer singing and playing on trains and buses?" he said. "We have a structured program for such artists at Tower City that we may decide to expand, but we must also honor the desire and freedom of our other customers to listen to, or not listen to, others."

And beyond performing, he said, busking -- or playing for tips -- is against RTA policy, despite it being part of the public transit fabric in subways across the nation.

"We do not allow solicitation on our vehicles or at our stations. Remember, if you listen to music on a street corner and you don't like it, you can walk away. Customers on a bus or train do not have this option," he said.

Walker said she doesn't understand why police and RTA are opposed to music for tips, which is how she made her living in New York and Berlin.

"No one likes the crazy vagrant barking at them," she said. "But there is a distinct difference between that and performing. They're treating me like I'm getting on the trains and screaming at people for money."

RTA has a completely different beef with the Sax Man, who has received a half-dozen citations not because of his music, but because he refuses to pay for his trips.

"He's a constant fare evader," said RTA's Mary Shaffer. "He has a history of not following the rules on RTA."

Sunday, according to an RTA police report, he again failed to pay on the HealthLine and then "brandished a knife, specifically a thumb-activated lock-blade knife with a blade approximately three inches long." He was not charged with threat or assault, but given a misdemeanor ticket for "possessing certain weapons in public."

Justine Walker, performing on the RTA Red Line, recorded by a passenger:

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